McLaughlin College Senior Common Room (140 McL)
Noon - 2:30 A light lunch will be served.
The late John Rawls is arguably the most influential political philosopher of liberalism in the 20th Century. In his early work, Rawls advanced a profoundly liberal-egalitarian theory of justice for a domestic society. In his subsequent work, Rawls argued that in order for any liberal theory of justice to gain the support of people in modern liberal societies who hold equally reasonably but incommensurable religious and moral views, liberalism must be restricted to govern only political life.
Extending this idea to guide the foreign policy of a liberal state, in The Law of Peoples Rawls argues that certain non-liberal states should be tolerated which respect a minimal list of human rights that excludes quintessential liberal rights.
Has Rawls betrayed liberalism's central premises, or is he correct that liberal toleration requires liberal states to tolerate certain non-liberal states?
David Gordon is a Master's student in Political Science at York University, whose research focuses on Rawls's The Law of Peoples. He is also a Research Assistant in the York University Centre for Practical Ethics, which is co-sponsoring this talk.
Everyone is welcome
